“Yandex” will launch the aggregator service stations

“Yandex” continues to look for new niches for business, and intends to soon launch the aggregator service stations. The amount of aftermarket services in 2016 exceeded 500 billion rubles and continues to grow — the average age of owning a car increased from three to four to five years

“Yandex” has decided to take advantage of falling new car sales in Russia and increased demand for repair and maintenance of vehicles. From 15 may, the Internet company will launch the “car care” aggregator techcentral on the platform of the “ad Car.ru”, told RBC representative. This is a special section on the website and the mobile version (the mobile app will appear later). As explained by the representative “Car.ru”, the average age of the vehicle and the period of his ownership has increased from three to four to five years. As a result, in 2016, the number of search queries about car repair rose 10%, to 3.7 million units, estimated “Yandex”.

The new service allows you to find a local mechanic, including washing, tire, tuning Studio and production workshops throughout the country. The user can choose the service according to several criteria: location, availability status of the official partner of the automaker, the range of services, payment options using your Bank card. Also will be ranking the stations by reputation, which is compiled on the basis of reviews “of the Car.ru”. To get to the selected shop, the user needs to fill out a short form or call hour call center “of the Car.ru”. Before the record of the client, the operators call up the appropriate workshops and specify what time you can come and what it will cost to service. Staff at the call centre aware of the damage, and if the owner of the car will complain of “rattling in the area of the right wheel”, it will record on “replacement shock”, said the representative of “the Car.ru”.

The project covers 65 thousand service stations. For example, in Moscow to the platform connected 5.2 thousand garages, in Saint-Petersburg is almost 3 thousand, in Yekaterinburg — 1.7 thousand organizations. According to the representative “Car.ru”, for these cities and some other data about stations has been further updated: “Our contractors feet walked all the services, checked if they worked and took pictures workshops”.

According to the Agency “AUTOSTAT”, the market for car services is 524,2 billion rubles in 2016, which is 4.6% more than in 2015. “With our audience of 1.5 million users, resources of the “big “Yandex” and the integration of search service stations in the Navigator we expect to become a major player in this field and subsequently, to capitalize on it,” says representative “Car.ru”. At the start of the project is free, but later it will be monetized via workshops. “The specific method has not yet been selected, but this may be a fee for the call, left a request for service, the arrival in the workshop,” he said. The service should eventually turn “chaotic market workshops in a more friendly and transparent,” hopes the representative “Car.ru”.

Already arrived

Attempts to make the aggregator for the order of services were made in the world and in Russia. According to the co-founder of the network of service “Camry” bar Tursunova, in Russia works about 20 aggregators. One of these companies — services CarFix — last autumn invested in a competitor of Yandex, one of large Russian the Internet-holding Mail.Ru Group. CarFix drew from him and a number of investors $5 million for 20% of the company. However, none of the competitors are launching “the Car.ru” service is not running across the country, the maximum — in the two cities.

Photo: Yuri Smityuk / TASS

In this case, for “Yandex” is not the first case when the company entered the unusual market. For example, before the Internet, the company launched the service “Yandex.Taxi” that lets you order a ride via mobile app. Among such services “Yandex.Taxi” the largest in Russia. In the first quarter of 2017, this area accounted for 4% of revenues, or 778 million rubles. the Development of mobile applications is changing the traditional taxi business, which has already led to the protests of drivers in large cities of Russia. Last fall, they took to the streets, speaking against reduction of prices on trip, United in a Commonwealth “against” and requested legislation to regulate the activities of aggregators. Parallel to the major taxi companies are trying to promote your own mobile app, to avoid paying a Commission to the aggregator.

But the service stations do not yet see the threat in the emergence of the aggregator. According to the bar Tursunova, “the Guys” definitely will work with the aggregator “Yandex” and have already applied. “This is an additional stream of customers. For example, CarFix gives us 1.5% of clients on the point, which has a contract with the aggregator, says she. — I hope that the resource “Yandex” will give the same amount or more.” While aggregators do not give more than 2-3% increase in customers, so they will not be able to destroy the stations, said the representative of “the Guys”: “the Experience of working with aggregators shows that people using them arrive on the standard services to which the service does not make a lot, for example maintenance. The care centers would be beneficial, if the aggregator is going to give 10-20%”. According to Tursunova, the appearance of good aggregators will be an additional incentive for car-care centers to improve service quality and optimize workflow. “Now in most techcentral employees spend a lot of time on smoke breaks and conversations. Their owners will have to introduce a corporate system that controls everything,” she said.

The representative aggregator “Remontista” (works in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod) called exit “Yandex” on the market “expected” because of his appeal, but noted that it could become a threat for small beginners aggregators and those who focus on the number of connected stations. At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of cooperation with the new aggregator if it “will be a system of rating and filtering among all connected stations”.

CarFix founder Oskar Hartmann said that although the company will operate in one segment, entitled “auto service facilities” from the point of view of the business model they are not direct competitors. New project Cars.ru” is more of an aggregator model, built on the basis of location-based services “Yandex”. They offer customers to choose a service based on the location and type of rendered works, says Hartmann. — CarFix unlike conventional aggregators monitors the repair process from the moment of registration of application to final payment”. In General, these projects, in his opinion, make the market more civilized and comfortable for the client, saving him time. “However, it is unlikely that the aggregator model will lead to global changes in the market, as this requires a more sophisticated business model which will enable us to minimize human involvement in the calculation of cost of works” — says the investor. He said that in the future CarFix plans to move to fully automate the selection of car service, spare parts and consumables.